24hrs of Exposure: Getting there & getting ready

I met Simon Ernest at Marble Arch on the Friday morning and we set about packing the car with the three bike frames and 6 sets of wheels. Unfortunately We couldn't get everything in so I had to leave one of the bikes behind. Not ideal for a 24hr race but not much option. So I chose the 29r hardtail. I had 8 good hours on it and I was sure this was the bike to take over the 26in full sus. 

We drove up steadily to Newcastleton via the M6. The drive wasn't too bad as we shared it and chatted the whole way stopping for the odd coffee. The moment we entered Scotland I lost O2 signal on my phone and never regained it. Pulling into the Rock UK center we could see the event organisation taking place. We were directed to our little log cabin we had booked and unpacked.

Big pile of kit outside our cabin

The cabins were great, basic but good enough for the job. Four beds a sink and a toilet and shower to share between the other dorms in the cabin. Myself and Simon built up our bikes and went for a test run around the course.

My bed for the weekend

The course started off with a short steep climb onto a grassy almost BMX looking trail that led to a little drop. From the drop we had a small rocky path to the bottom of what looked like a forest climb. This climb zig zagged up the side of the hill. It was never too steep and easily ride able  when dry but one thing that was clear was that the grip was going to be lost with the slightest amount of rain. Out of the last few switchbacks we than regained the rocky path at the top. This was very bumpy. It was here I noticed my rear tyre was leaking. I could hear the air coming out. Wiggling the tyre about  I can't image what it must have bee like on 26in wheels. Although I didn't have a rear suspension I could tell it would feel bumpy. My 29in wheels seemed to roll over it well. 

Bloody never did get the hang of Simon's pump

From this we went down into a little valley over a bridge then up a small gravel climb which led to a steep climb that seemed to be about 300m long. On my 29r this was to be climbed on the lowest of my gears using the middle ring (some people still have three up the front you know) . I was thinking this climb was going to be a tough one half way into the race. This climb was steep and it was going to hurt for sure. Over the top of this we came to a fireroad that was split down the middle. It looked like a out and back from 1st looking at it. The Fireroad was pretty flat but fairly long. When we got to the end we figured that it must go somewhere else or just do a U turn. We turned back (which was a mistake) down the firetrack. We went past the point where we joined it at the top of the climb and about twice as far again on the fireroad. This brought us to the top of some nice singletrack swithcbacks which took us back down to a gravel road.

200m down the gravel and back to some more single track which was up and down. I really liked this bit. This finished at the little valley where we crossed a bridge earlier. This then had a short climb to a very bumpy grass trail that led us back to the finish via a really (bloody awful) bumpy descent into the arena.

Upon finishing I spotted Kinesis Morvelo's Rob Lee and we discussed the merits of the lap. Now what myself and Simon had done didn't feel like an 11mile lap. Rob confirmed that we had missed over half out. Yeah we guessed that. Where? Turns out that the signs were not up where we did the U turn. We should have turned left and all would have been clear 200m up the trail. Oh well! It's not like I won't get practice I thought. 

The jerseys on display

Back to the log cabin to fix the punture take out the inner tube and make my tyre tubeless again. This time I put double the amount of Stan's sealant in the tyres.

The signing on sheet

We signed on went to the pasta party and waited for our room mates to arrive. Simon's team mate Chris Pedder and his partner Rachel Fenton. Chris was also riding the 12hr with Rachel supporting.

They arrived with some wine so we each had a big glass then went to bed. Big day tomorrow

24hrs with plenty of EXPOSURE

So we have had weeks of stunning weather. The trails are dry and dusty. There have been forest fires all over the UK. I've witnessed one myself at Cwmcarn (only a small one) and we now have 3 days to go until the 24hrs of Exposure race. The European & British Solo MTB Champs. The weather has not just turned a little bit bad but horrifically bad. The event is at the Rock UK center part of the 7Stanes. The course will be on an all weather track that should be OK but 200 of us riding around it for 24hrs should cut it up quite a bit. A week ago I was going to be wearing just my club cycling kit now I will be wearing a whole lot more. My fast wheels have some semi slicks on them. They will probably do for the 1st few hours but I will soon have to change to something a little more grippy no doubt.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/325?area=Newcastleton
The forecast is really something else. Thunder storms, hail stones and heavy rain but warm. 20C in the day which if true will take the edge off it a bit. Now why on earth did I leave my rear Crud Catcher mudguard in Wales?
I can't believe I am contemplating even packing my camo baggy water proof shorts. Racing in baggy shorts just feels wrong thinking about it.

Now I need to get myself a few more spare brake pads. I fear 2 sets is not enough

Black Park XC & what not to do before a race.

OK my first Short XC race of the season. I've missed two rounds of the Welsh series but I wasn't going to miss the Black Park XC. This was my 1st race back mountain biking last year. I did it on a borrowed Giant Anthem which a collegue kindly let me have for a few weeks as my Lapierre was delayed a bit. Last year I punctured on the penultimate lap and due to having no spare tube I ran half a lap to get it fixed.
This year I thought I'd have some luck. The forcast in the week before was for rain on the weekend so I left my trusty Rocket Ron tyres on my race wheels. later in the week it became clear that the race was going to be a dry one. Black Park is really fast and I decided I'd use my fastest tyres. I had limited room in the car so it was one set of wheels that's it. Choose wisely! So the night before I put my Bontrager XR1 tyres on. They are not Tubeless ready but I have run them plenty of times with out innertubes. They are super light and super fast. Never had an issue with them. Confidence was high.
I loaded the car and drove to London the night before the race. Staying at my sister in laws not too far away. The morning of the race we had rain. No hope in Hell in getting my wife and kids out there if it was raining. So alone and a little late (I wanted to spend as much time with my children as possible) I headed to the race.
On arrival I set up my bike to find no air in my rear tyre. Wonderful! All I needed. No idea why today the seal had gone but normally fine. I borrowed Simon Ernest's (AW Cycles) track pump and pumped it up. All was good again.
I didn't really leave enough time to do a recce of the course so I did half of it. It felt pretty similar the the previous year. I was happy. On the start line ready we watched the Elite guys shoot off into the distance. 15s to go then off went the horn. The mass sprint for the 1st corner was a long one. I think it was about 700m. A Hell of a lot further than the previous year. One chap obviously didn't do any sort of recce as he turned from the right hand side to the left to try and join some single track we had used last year. I really thought he was going to take everyone out. We were lucky all he did was put himself dead last. I think I joined the single track in about 4th or 5th place.
It took all of about a 3rd of a lap for me to start struggling with the pace through the twisty stuff. I must learn to ride a bike a bit better. I had a few chaps asking if they could have a go as I was leaving gaps. I let them past and tried to hang on to them. Most riders probaly don't think the Black Park race is technical but for me it is.

On the the thrid lap I was getting the flow of the course right and I felt like I was quick. Then on one corners I heard a burp noise from my rear tyre. It had gone down a bit and released a load of air under pressure on the side wall. Disaster! I stopped to make sure it was OK and it seemed a bit flat but OK. What I should have done here is put a tube in it. At this very momment. A lap later at pretty much the same place even though I cornered a little slower it burped again. I continiued a bit and it burped again. I stopped and filled the tyre with that Zefal foam. Jobs a good un. It was firm.
All this time I was faffing with my rear whel all the riders I had dropped had caught me up again and the leaders of the Vets race that started off 2 mins behind us were catching. One familiar face from road racing caught up with me Paul Crook of West Drayton MTB Club. I found that I could stay with him around the course and we seemed to be well matched. On the road though Paul would rip my legs off but off road we seemed more equal. Coming round to start our 2nd lap together I heard Jody Crawforth two more of the Elites thundering down the singletrack towards us. I let them past straight away as you do. I didn't want to hold them up at all. Finishing the lap we were back on the firetrack. I powered up the fireroad like a typical roadie trying to make up for what was lost on the singletrack. Simon Ernest popped from be hind me to join on the group of Elites. The pace they were doing on the firetrack was slower than I expected. I stayed behind them know that the moment the singletrack arrived they would be gone. Surely the moment we had rounded two or three tight corners in the trees the speed and class of the Elite guys showed. that's why I ride as a Master.
Must have been only 15 seconds or so later 2010 Masters Champ and now back to Elite Scott Forbes shot past. Looked like he was closing down on the group ahead. A few more corners and It was juist back to me and Paul Crook. Half a lap later my rear tyre burped out a shit load of air again on a corner and went totally flat in one go. I had to stop and push some more foam and CO2 in. I took my time as the valve wasn't palying ball with me and I squirted foam all over myself. I wanted to finish so I needed it to work.
As before the group of Masters in my race were catching up again as I'd stopped. I soon dropped them and finished the lap and the race. Coming accross the line I was told I was 27th. Hands on head "How the hell?" I totally believed somehow I was 27th. Moments later as I was warming down. "Sorry Jason you were 12th" That was more like it. With out my silly issues I'd like to think I'd have got around 6th. Turned out I was 13th. Not my best performance but I've not been back on th bike long. I did my second race of the season. I'll just take the miles on the bike right now.
So don't change your kit just befroe the race, don't turn up late & do pre-ride the course if you are technically crap.

Finally the first race of the Season: Wentwood50

I'm lucky that I even got to the start of the race yesterday morning. I entered it late and missed out on an entry. When I was in Spain sunning myself I received an email from the organiser asking me if I wanted to take a place and swap names with someone. I made sure I had someone to look after my kids and accepted. Getting back from holiday we found out that my wife's Mum had been taken ill.
It wasn't until fairly late on Saturday evening did I find out that I could ride. I managed to get a babysitter.
I got to the start and went signed on. It was bloody cold standing in the queue but it went smoothly which was great for a 1st time event. The tent did smell of dog poo though. Wasn't nice. We were called for the start at about 10:20 for a 10:30 START. I was pretty cold but I knew we had some climbing to do from the gun and I'd soon warm up. If I'd been wearing what some of the guys were wearing I'd soon be over heating.
I didn't get to do a warm up as I had to drop my kids at the babysitter as late as possible. I got dressed, fixed up my bike just in time. Not ideal but hey you take what you have.
The start was on the road (which were closed for the start and finish) We went straight up the road for a few miles to the top of the ridge and into the forest. I was near the front on the road but not at the front. With no I was warming up nicely and made sure I didn't over do it early on. This was my first race of the year and only forth ride in almost 8 weeks.
I ended up in a small group of around 6-7 riders through the first few KM off road. At one point I was just following wheels and who ever was up the front of our group had taken us off course. I think a few of us had gone the wrong way as we were alerted by riders coming up the hill we were going down asking if we had seen the sign. Err nope. Anyway we soon found it. You really had to keep an eye out for the arrows. They were big and yellow but somehow we were still missing them. I don't know how we missed them to be honest as they were pretty clear but we were missing them.
I was enjoying myself but my body wasn't. Me legs were working OK but my arms, shoulders and back were aching. For some bizzare reason I was convinced I'd put my Skins compression tights on backwards. There seems to be too much padding at the front. All I had done was failed to pull them up enough. The shorts became a pain as I was looking for negatives. catching on my saddle. Fact is I was very rusty offroad. My skills are not the great at the best of times but pretty much two months without any off road riding I was struggling. I fell off whilst trying to put an empty gel pack in my pocket (I wish everyone else would have tried as much as me keeping the place tidy).
On the up hills as normal I would pull away from my group. then on the technical downhills they would catch me up. I really need to get out and practice more on the technical stuff.
about 2/3 through the race the small group of three i was with turned wrong again. This time we were defiantly off course and had clearly missed out some course. There were checkpoints around 3 in all for the 50km course. I had all three. I wasn't about to cheat but it was hard to find where we went wrong. A rider going the other way told us we had missed out 7km. turned out it was less than a km. I'd done more than that wrong already.
The great thing about the route which also was probably where so many went wrong is with some of it the route was natural. There was no obvious trail but easy to go wrong. It was great. With about 8km to the finish we had a long fireroad climb which then turned into a steep road climb. being local i knew this climb well. My head went. I was tired. The lack of fitness was showing. I got to the top of the hill knowing the way home was all downhill. Big ring the whole way.

I finished the 50km in about 3hrs 10. So way down. I didn't push myself too much but I clearly have a lot of work to do before my 1st 24hr race in 9 weeks time. basically I am in the shit. The 7 weeks of no riding has put me somewhere I haven't been for a long time. Can I do it YES I CAN

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72107896

Pics and results up soon on http://www.wentwood50.co.uk/ I loved the event. Very well organised with the food stations and excellent route. I will be back next year for the event and back up Wentwood forest in a few weeks for a ride.

The Blackpark XC next week. Can't wait

I've decided to have a crack at Mountain Mayhem solo

One of my favourite photos taken by my team mate on the final lap in 2010

This year wasn't sure if I should do Mayhem solo or as part of the mixed team that did so well last year.
Knowing that Norwood Paragn CC will be sending three teams this year. So many people want to ride this year they shouldn't miss me too much. Well I was the backbone of the mixed team last year but we do have plenty of quick riders.
Knowing that I will have at least 14 team mates at the event I know I will have plenty of motivational support. I have my first 24hr solo race in 13 weeks. Training hasn't gone to plan so far. It was going very well. Excellent in fact I was very happy with how things were going. The the Swine Flu which I still haven't recovered from. Come tomorrow I will have missed two races which I was keen on using to build my form. Not trained for over 4 weeks now. Fingers crossed I will get out this coming week.
So Mayhem it is. I'm really looking forward to it. I am still really focused on the 24hrs of Exposure which is 6 weeks before Mayhem. I am though realistic with the chances of my performance here being one I could write home about. Being my 1st race I was really going to try hard at winning the Rookie jersey. I'm not daft I know my chances of this are slipping. This year I will have a hardtail 29r for Mayhem. I feel this will make me a little quicker on this not very technical course. I know a hardtail would have made me a lot quicker on the climbs (not that my Lapierre is crap on the climbs) I'm Aiming for top 10.
Between now and then I have one more week in work then a relaxing family holiday in Spain. When I get back I will have the 2nd round of the Welsh XC resies then the Black Park XC. A week after that I will be catching the train down to Winchester to do the South Downs Way. Plans plans plans. I've made them before, lets hope I can stick to them this time.

Looking forward to getting this at the end of March

I better make sure I get my entry in on the 28th of Feb. I can get another years supply of shower gel again.

http://www.osmountainmayhem.co.uk/

Early Season Race Plan: Jan - Apr 2011

Been trying to work out what to race in prep for the season ahead. The early focus of my season is the 24hr Champs starting on the 7th of May. I have to try and mix family life, training and racing. It's not easy. With my wife now working both Saturdays & Sundays I can't travel too far too often. My two girls will have fun travelling about with their Dad no doubt.

1. 23rd of Jan Merida Brass Monkey Round 3 Aldershot, Surrey Website, Course, 4hr Enduro 18-39
2. 13th of Feb Welsh Mountain Bike Series Round 1 Treforest, South Wales Website, XC Masters Race
3. 5th of Mar Welsh Mountain Bike Series Round 2 Builth Wells, South Wales  Website, XC Masters Race
4. 6th of March Wentwood 50km Mountain Bike Enduro, Wentwood, Newport, Website, Enduro
5. 13th of Mar Black Park XC Race Black Park Country Park, Bucks Website, XC Masters Race
6. 3rd of Apr Welsh Mountain Bike Series Round 3 Website Coed Y Brenin, North Wales, XC Masters Race
7. 9th of Apr Exposure Lights Big Night Out Builth Wells, South Wales Website, 40km Night Enduro 18-39 
8. 10th of Apr Legstretchers Memorial to Betty Pharoah Road Race Wick, South Wales, Reg B RR
9. OR 10th of Apr Cycles MTB Marathon Series (powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport) Builth Wells, South Wales Website, 100km  Enduro

I will be adding in some Road Circuit races as well as the above no doubt (need to get my BC 2nd cat back). This with some damn hard training should be ideal prep for what is planned for May. South Downs Mission Towards the end of March. 

Brass Monkey Round 2 - Final race of 2010

The snow has stopped, the rain came and what did it leave us? Ice. For the week leading up to the race the course builders spent a lot of time clearing the snow from the single track. The weather on the day was light rain. So the course turned from firm with the ice to soft. As I had just recovered from a bad chest cold I didn't have the chance to test my legs before the race. I'd not been on a bike in over 10 days. I thought it best not to bother riding the course as to not waste energy. I did have a little practice on the 1st hundred or so meters of single track. I'd pretty made up my mind that I was there to make up the numbers and to give myself a good 4hrs training in race conditions.

I went through my normal warm up routine of a short ride a few sprints and a bit of a stretch. Realise that I wasn't warm enough in what I was wearing so I took off my club jersey and replaced it with my Trusty Assos 851 Jacket. A little overkill maybe but I would be toasty what ever the elements gave me. 

I placed my 4 water bottles in the feed zone with a few tools, some lube for my chain and then we gathered at the start. As I had made up my mind I wasn't going to give it full gas i didn't start right up the front. No need to go into the red early on for no reason. It didn't matter anyway as the start had two very wide tracks before the bottle neck of the 1st bit of single track. I think I must have stood there like a lemon for about 20 seconds waiting to get on the single track.

The course was really really fun. There was loads of nice single track which for the 1st three laps I did was excellent. Well done on the Course Builders behalf as they made my day. There were two big drop offs which I rode for the 1st three laps. One was very steep at the top. (I'm no fan of drop offs) The Small amounts of fire track always led to the nice single track and the fire track was always short but steep. 

Anyway How was I doing, first lap I felt great there were no surprises other than I took the wrong line at one point and stacked it into a bush. Quickly back on the bike and onwards. The 1st time over the 2nd of the big drop offs came as a shock. Nothing went wrong but I wasn't at all relaxed and could have easily stacked it. My forks felt a little soft and I was sure I didn't have enough rebound so I stopped and adjusted it. Lap finished and I started feeling great. Although I felt good on the 1st lap my legs did feel a bit rusty. 

On the second lap I felt really good. Legs relaxed and I pressed on a bit harder. I slipped on one of the smaller drops and went off the bike to the side. I held onto one of my bar ends and dragged the bike down with me running. In one fluid movement I managed to remount the bike and ride away as if nothing had happened. (Why doesn't that always happen instead of landing on the deck in a heap?)

Third lap went well to start with. I'd taken on a new bottle at the start of the lap and shoved a few gels down. One thing that was obvious though was that the mud was getting thicker and harder to ride through. Starting the 4th lap I realised that if I kept the pace I was doing up I'd end up getting to the finish line with about 10 mins spare and would have to do a sixth. With all the mud and that I eased off and took it easy. Not that it was easy. The second half of the 4th lap and the 5th were Hell. The mud was porridge like. My pace got slower and slower with my final lap almost 25mins slower than my 1st. 

Finishing was a relief. I normally don't feel that tired after doing 8hrs in the saddle but all in all I'm happy with how things went. It was an excellent days training in race conditions. I wouldn't have ridden that hard if I was out on the hills on my own. I went through a set of disk pads that had just been replaced with only an icy 30miles ride where I barely used the brakes. Good news is my drive train looks OK so it didn't cost me too much.

Today the day after I have just sat in the house watching films and servicing my bike all day wearing my Skins Compression tights. Knackered. I hear from the Twitter world that everyone else is tired too. God know how I will feel on Tuesday after riding the South Downs Way on Monday.

Results 19th in the 4hr Mens race. I wish I hadn't eased of and managed to do a 6th lap. 

Check out the links from Joolze Dymond Photography below

Pic 1 This bit of single track was great fun

Pic 2 I love this pic I might buy it off Joolz

Pic 3

Pic 4 The mud

Pic 5 More mud

My shoes How random

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/72108082

Bloody glad I took my training tyres off. The Nobby Nicks would have been murder in that mud. The Rocket Rons were perfect. Full on mud tyres would have been too slow on the rest of the course.

Which Reasonably Priced 29r?

SCOTT SCALE PRO 29r

CANNONDALE FLASH HI-MOD 29'ER 3

SPECIALIZED STUNTJUMPER COMP CARBON 29er

With the focus of my season in 2011 being Long endurance racing I thought it might be better to have a bike that rolls a bit faster and is generally quicker. These mid range 29r bikes sprang to mind. Now I need to start saving for one of them.
The Cannondale, The Scott & The Specialized
When I bought my Lapierre X Control in April I knew that I had to have a normal 26' Full Sus. I had just raced the Black Park XC race which was super technical for me with all it;s twists and turns. A lot of my racing this season was in the mid week Beastway Series which involved lots of tight corners and plenty of accelerating out of them. At the time the only Avaliable 29r to me was the Gary Fisher and I didn't really fancy one of those. Options are greater now. I can't make do with just a 29r I know. I just know that I would have been quite a bit quicker in races such as The Brecon Beast on a bike that rolls quicker.

Any other 29r bikes out there I should look at?

Specialized S-Works Epic FSR 29er 2011

 I don't think I could call the Specialized S-Works Epic FSR 29er a reasonably priced 29r at £6599 but I think it's probably the best one out there. Hmmn what are my Lotto numbers?

Cwmcarn Twrch Trail then over the top of the mountain to Mynydd Maen & back

Riding up the road to the Cwmcarn Trail Centre

Sunday Morning I woke up early to get out on the MTB for 4hrs worth of  training. I open the front door at 8am and decided it was far too cold so I waited an hour and went out at 9am. I went straight up the road to Cwmcarn through Risca to get their quicker.
The road that leads up to the Cwmcarn Trail Centre was closed as it was really icy and although I've live in the area for over 30 years I had no idea there was an alternative route up there and the car park was half full already at 9:45.
Before I'd even got to the trail centre my water bottle was already starting to freeze up. I put the bottle in one of my pockets to keep it a bit warmer. I had another bottle in my bag side pocket. I didn't check that. I didn't hang about to see who was about I just set off up the trail. I was suprise how much snow was still about. lower down. Where there was no tree cover there was compacted snow and where the trees stopped the snow the trail was icy and solid. If it hadn't been so cold I'd say it would be very fast conditions if it was a used in a race. Grip was never a problem. I went up to the top and had a play on the jumps and a few trips down the XC switchback section.
Right up the top there is a gate that leads to the mountain above. I saw that at least two riders had gone up there from their tracks so I thought I would join them.

Some iced up single track lower down the trail

More icy single track

The bumpy fire road (smoothest I've ever ridden it)

Riding over the top of Twmbarlwm and then North over towards the OS trig point Mynydd Maen it was very cold. The snow was solid and there was a lot of ice. I had ridden up there in the Autumn with my daughter and the all the large puddles were frozen solid. Some of them were about 30ft long and I could ride over the edges of them OK. I was riding down a large rut that seems to be about 6 inches deep. I'd been riding down it for a quite a few metres when I heard some cracking. Suddenly I just dropped about a foot maybe more into the water below. I managed to stay upright and not get wet. It came as a bit of a surprise I must say. The temperature according to one of the riders at the top of the Twrch Trail was about -5. So over on Mynydd Maen with the wind chill it must have been quite a bit less.
The view from the top of the mountain was fantastic. Apart from some electricity pylons there was no sign of anything man built. I could see the Bristol Channel, England, The not so black at the time Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons the sky was that clear. To the South through West to North it was clear. From the East I could see dark clouds and feared some bad weather was coming my way so I thought it best I head back to the Cwmcarn Trail. On the way back I made my own way going over different tracks not following the two tyre tracks I had followed before. It's hard work not knowing the tracks and having them covered in snow. I met a group of three riders on their way up had a quick chat and headed back to the Twrch. Climbed over the fence at the top of the Jumps section and had a few more runs down them. On last run I met three blokes who were having issues with one of their bikes. looked like the one chap had blown his forks up. Not the nicest of rides back down for him.
On the way down the downhill part of the Twrch Trail I found it very icy. I don't think I touched the front brake once and took it very easy. when I got to the car park at the bottom I thought about going for another loop but thought better of it and headed home via the canal tow path. I certainly didn't expect to come across a fishing competition. Those guys looked cold all sat there with their Roach Pole trying to catch what exactly?

Bloody good day on the bike I say  Hopefully will get back up there on Sunday or maybe Afan Forest

Very icy single track that had no tree cover

At the Top of the Twrch Trail. Left or Right (I did it both twice)

Just above the Twrch Trail riding over to Mynydd Maen

OS trig point on Mynydd Maen at 459ft

Looking North towards the Black Mountains

The frozen canal on the way home

A bit of a cold day for a fishing competition 

The Kielder 100 is sooner than I thought

Camping at Mayhem 2010

The Kielder 100 is on the 1st weekend of September. I had already entered the event almost a year in advance.  Just seen a tweet from the organiser Paul Davis of SIS Events that the event is a third full already, that the B&Bs are already fully booked and that the campsites are already taking bookings. I guess I should have seen that coming. I will be camping for sure. It's the last week of the school holidays & my kids have never been to Scotland. 
So the massive family tent I bought for times such as these will be put to good use again. 
I guess preparation such as booking things like this is as important as the training. Imagine I get through the entry lottery for the Leadville 100 entry. Then that will take some organising. That event is in Colorado.

So I've got a Mountain Bike (What next?)

Coming down off the Gap Road
Brecon Beast 2010

Last year I decided that I would try something else. I had become a little tired of road racing and wanted something that was a bit more fun. Don't get me wrong, I love road racing but as I live between London and South Wales I was finding it a bit crap. I have the Cwmcarn Twrch Trail (I'll get back to that) right on my doorstep on the weekends and I thought I'd get myself a MTB. I really didn't intend to race just have a bit of fun. 

Before my bike had arrived I had borrowed a bike off a colleague and took it up Cwmcarn. Next thing I know I've entered the OS Mountain Mayhem 24hr race as part of a Mixed Team of 5 & had started to plan my season. So I entered a mix of XC races & Enduros.

I was into the MTB so much I only did two road races all season. I do plan to do more road races in 2011 but more for training than anything. 

I did the North East London based Beastway series which started very well for me. 1st race I was second in Masters. I was leading until I did my trademark one crash of the race. Most of the series I was in the top 4 or 5 with the odd week of Hell due to a puncture or broken ribs. Right in the middle of the Beastway series was the OS Mountain Mayhem 24hr. I raced this as part of a team. It was bloody awesome. I can't believe how much fun it was and how hard it was. I was riding for my club Norwood Paragon CC. A team of 5. 4 boys and one bloody fast Lady called Kaye. We did bloody good considering Doc broke his thumb. I had my trademark crash and Adam slept in a bit late one lap. We came 10th which wasn't bad considering. I saw the state of the solo guys and thought they looked a right mess. No way would I be stupid enough to try that.

I then did a few of the local races in Surrey which were pretty cool. 

An early round of Beastway

The high & low point of my season were the Enduros all the races i had done so far were no more than two hours long. The Low point was the 75km Big Welsh Enduro in Margam Park. I thought I was fit until I turned up to this race. Boy I had a shock. I wasn't last but not far off. If it hadn't been for some friends cheering me on I would have packed. 
The high point was the Brecon Beast which was 110km and up and over the Brecon Beacons mtns. I really enjoyed it. I was actually competitive pretty much the whole way round until I snapped a chain. When I crossed the line I was told I was 8th. confusion with the results puts me outside the top 20 but I know where I came. I suffered the whole way round but loved every minute of it. It was in the final kms of this race I pretty much decided that I was going to try a 24hr Solo. 

So there were are, I said it 24hr solo. At the London Cycle Show the XC Racer Shop announced that the entries for the 24hrs of Exposure and the Mondane Kielder 100 so I entered them both. Jump in both feet first, might as well and so it starts......


Better get training!